It’s a snow day in Lincoln, Nebraska—not because of the snow that’s already accumulated, but because of the snow that is expected to fall today. The announcement of a snow day is STILL exciting for me even though I’ve been out of school for almost 13 years now. I think there’s a collective, community anticipation of fun when school is called off for the neighborhood kids and I’m sure we’ll see them out in force today, making snowmen and sledding down the few hills we have in this flat part of the country.

Livia and I hit the grocery store yesterday for a few staples and aside from a library run this morning, we’re prepared to enjoy a homebound Friday. I’ve already promised her adventures both outdoors and in. As long as everyone gets healthy here, we’ll be doing fine.

What are your plans for today and tomorrow? Does anyone have big Valentines plans?

A quick run around the blogosphere this morning reveals lots of plans to vote, a small amount of fear regarding America’s future, and a whole lot of campaign exhaustion.

I’m not exhausted by the campaigns of 2008. Why? We’ve had no access to any television channels… until last night. I picked up a $9.99 antenna from Target and, yippee!, now I can watch the election returns from my own living room. While I’m thrilled to access the world of Oprah, Good Morning America and Jeopardy without paying cable fees, I also realize what a blessing it’s been to have avoided all the paid campaign commercials over the past year. CNN Online and conservative talk radio have made me groan enough—CNN hearts Obama, clearly conservative talk radio hearts McCain, blah blah blah. I can’t imagine how worn out I’d feel after all the negative ads on tv.

After googling “candidates on the issues,” I feel comfortable casting my vote for John McCain.

And you know what I’ll feel comfortable doing after that? Drinking a free Starbucks in the coziness of my own living room. Thank you, cheap antenna.

How have you recently expressed yourself creatively?

What were some ways you used to be creative, perhaps during your childhood/youth, that you don’t engage in anymore?

Would you like to revisit those old creative expressions someday?How is someone close to you—a spouse, friend, child—creative in a way you are not?

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Thanks for playing along, everyone! I think sewing is so cool… There are so many possibilities for gifts, fun toys, useful items, etc, when you can sew.

Beside photography, I find myself enjoying all sorts of kid activities. Basically, if I was left to myself, I’d sit down and color all the live long day. Livia doesn’t enjoy coloring much, though, so we create art by stamping, painting, cutting and gluing. I wish I had many more hours for creative projects… I’d especially like to pour myself into writing; for now I’m in a holding pattern in that area. I write in my head all the time but rarely do my internal compositions see the light of day.

Someday I hope to get back into theater again. You couldn’t keep me from performing as a kid.

Finally, I really admire my husband’s creativity in web design. He’s amazing with color and has quite an eye for detail (kind of necessary in his line of work, it comes naturally to him which totally impresses me). I’m also floored by Livia’s imagination. She sees worlds I cannot see and lives in richness because of it.

Okay, so I’m cleaning Liv’s closet this morning and I’m coming across a ton of old items I should probably give away. Cute teeny baby shoes, brand-new-still-in-the-packaging baby blankets, old toys, you name it. Here’s what I’m wondering: How many things is it appropriate to keep for sentimental reasons? Should I hang on to Livia’s first pair of baby shoes or the pink cowgirl boots she wore for months on end? I’m in the mood to purge, people. This is a rare occasion, one to embrace fully.

Moriah at Please Pass the Salt picked me for 7 Things. I rarely do memes, because I’m silly like that, but I couldn’t shake the thought of 7 random things that you. must. know. about Rebecca Tredway. And now that I’ve said you must know this information, I’d like to delete the whole post. Ha. Here goes…

1. I have a “funny” yawn, as Livia so accurately stated this morning. Some of my yawns end in a little burp.
2. In general, I don’t like fruit muffins but love chocolate chips ones (which we all know are called cupcakes).
3. I dream about theater on a regular basis. Most often I’m either auditioning or late for an audition, and my beloved high school theater teacher Carol Svoboda is always present.
4. I have never interviewed for a job. (This says little-to-nothing about my job skills, but quite a bit about providential timing.)
5. I can’t mow in a straight line to save my life. I also can’t cut in a straight line.
6. I can recite “The Friendly Cow” (Robert Louis Stevenson) from memory but I don’t remember memorizing it. I can also quote 1 Corinthians 13 in its entirety and I remember staying up all night in 6th grade with Kara Zwartverwer trying to memorize it and other scripture passages in an attempt to earn $20. Turns out, our youth leaders were kidding about the $20.
7. I believe I am better at almost everything at age 30 than I was at age 20. Apart from being quite skilled at studying as a 20 year old (simply because I had to be), I am now a kinder person, a wiser wife and mother, and overall slightly less of an idiot than I was at 20. By that account, 40 looks better every day.

**If your blog is listed on my righthand menu, consider yourself TAGGED. Therefore go ye peoples and have some random fun.

NARAL makes my stomach churn. I can’t help but think of my body in Fall 2006, how I got to hear my baby’s heartbeat at 8 weeks gestation, then listened fearfully only to hear silence a week later. With sadness I think of my miscarriage and I wonder how it’s considered a right to actually stop a baby’s heart from beating. How is that okay? Why do we celebrate a fetus’s first movements in the womb and in the next breath say that’s it’s okay to abort a human being of the same age? Baffles me.

NARAL has endorsed Barack Obama for president. And why not? Clearly, the candidate is pro-choice.

Boo to NARAL.
Boo to Obama for supporting abortion.
Boo to this presidential election.

This blog vacation business is far easier than I thought it would be. But my blog is getting kind of sad, in a purely emotional sense, and it’s time for me to come back… at least a little bit.

I have yet to write about the dawning of spring—glorious and delightful spring!—in Lincoln, Nebraska. Several weeks ago we experienced many days of unparalleled temperatures. It was sunny and warm, relatively speaking, and Livia and I took walks every day. But then the skies grew gray once more, we were bound by four walls again, and poor Liv struggled to understand why we couldn’t go outside to play. (Clearly, frigid temps mean nothing to my little person.) Slowly over the last several weeks something amazing, albeit a yearly event you think I’d get used to someday, occurred. It was two steps forward, one step back with warm days and cold days and somehow, in all kinds of ways, spring arrived at our doorstep. Our grass is green, our viburnum is unfurling adorable fuzzy green leaves, and our child is dropping like a rock by 7:30pm from all the fresh air play.

To me, spring is more than a season of sunshine and blooming daffodils. I find deep joy and renewal in sitting on the porch and watching the neighborhood come alive with activity. My heart actually rejoices when the sun’s rays are warm on my cheeks and the breezes are lightly cool against my bare arms. Though I began this day with angst and frustration in the hidden corners of my heart, I found God’s grace and glory freely given to me in every hour. And at the conclusion of this beautiful spring day, I’m reminded of this passage in Psalm 16:

LORD, you have assigned me my portion and my cup;
you have made my lot secure.
The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places;
surely I have a delightful inheritance.

In three words, two nouns and a verb to be exact, what did you do today?

Here’s mine:

• Coffeeshop
• Sunshine
• Played

Hi. My name is Rebecca and I’m a registered Republican. Only, recently I’ve learned that I’m kind of liberal socially and more conservative on a few issues, so I suppose you could say I have no true party.

Politics can be tough to chat about politely, but because I have such faith in y’all, I’m going to pose a question. I would love to hear any and all responses. And if I don’t appreciate your response, well then, I’ll just delete it.

For all the Barack Obama supporters out there: Why do you think Obama should be the next president of the United States?

**Updated. The question I really meant to ask is, Why do you like Obama?

On the way to Target we noticed the moon, bright and beautiful, high in the sky. On the way home from Target, I told Liv the clouds were partially blocking the moon. Geez, get with the program, Bec… Thank you, CNN, for setting me straight.